Liars Dice

I have a big job ahead of me. sigh
It's a good job but it will take a while and could have more then a few frustrations and some serious learning curves. Hopefully not too many distractions either because I do want to get er done.
But I am looking forward to it.

I bought a new Mac.

And a HUGE thunderbolt storage system. I should be good until 2040. :)
My new Mac will be fast.
Very fast!

Which means 12 hours of editing can be reduced to less then 6. Time is $

I have Time Machine, so technically I cold just hook up time machine to the new mac and let er role installing all the old stuff on the new Mac and be up and running in no time.

However I think it is best to do a "clean" install. i.e. reinstall all my programs and their corresponding files anew and in doing so keep all the superfluous junk out of my nice new Mac.

I have over a Terabytes of photos alone which will go on the new external hard drive.

That's 1000 Gb

Thats 1,000,000 Mb

Thats 100,000,000 Kb

Thats 1,000,000,000,000 bytes

That's a lot of BIG photos.

Back up! back up! back up! - especially clients photos! When that bride coms to me in 10 years needing all her photos because they were somehow lost..... I will have them.

I will also now pay for  on line storage cause hard drives fail unfortunately.

That being said, I do need to go thru all my personal stuff and get rid of duplicates. Some of these PSD (photoshop files) are over 100 Mb each  I do NOT need 2 versions of them and why I ever had two of them I will never know. :)

So begins the process and 15 minutes into it I come across all the photos of Eva's first year of life - saved a few times and burned to disk for her Mom but well, I don't want to loose these.

And I got distracted......

Because here she is, maybe 6 months old sitting on her Daddy's lap and playing Liars dice around the kitchen table.

sorry if I have posted these before but gosh darn they are adorable.

Liars dice is a pirates game. It is about lying. It is about deceiving.

It is about screaming "YOU LIAR" when you think your opponent is lying.

And Eva was right in there!!

"What ya got Dad?"

"oh cool!"

Uncle Harold -   "4 sixes"

Eva - "Liar!!"

Okay i need to get back to the task at hand. :)

This could take a while!

Black & White

Even flowers can look great in B&W

But of course grand babies are some of my favourite B&W

 Our family loves this game. :)

Norah's Eyes

Norah has such wonderful eyes. So expressive.

 I love this portrait of Norah. I am sending it off for printing because that is when you know if you really nailed it. My only regret is the vertical crop since the one of Eva I love so much is horizontal. I want to print them both perhaps on canvas for their bedroom and hang as a set but, well, I am going to have to think that one thru. Perhaps I can find one of the two of them and hang a set of 3.
Click on the photos to see them much larger.

Mark made the Winnipeg Firefighters Calendar for 2014. 

I took this photo before his try outs - you know, practice. :)

Eva on her 2nd birthday party. Love it! :)

A little bit of South Carolina

Continuing on with B&W

Are you getting tired of my B&W photographs?
It's a Karsh phase and it will pass.... maybe

 I am loving this bride portrait taken last summer. I used a bit of a warm tinge to the B&W
One of my favourite wedding photos. Kristin's absolutely fabulous veil was just begging for this pose. :)

And more flowers because I love how B&W brings out the detail and the texture.

The Girls Visited Last Night.

Eva plays peek-a-boo with me across the table and around the daffodils last night.

Oh my she is just getting so grown up. 

 Norah is still feeling pretty miserable with her cold so when she attempts to climb out of her high chair for the 10th time, I send Grandpa for some ice. And when that wares off (literally) we turn to an ice cream cone.  But no smiles.
This is one smart Grandma you know!

 And as usual, supper here ends with a bath, but grandma bought some new bubble bath. This is where we finally get some smiles out of Norah.... her mom is playing peek-a-boo with her.

Whoever invented that peek-a-boo game should get a nobel prize or something......

More B&W

More....

This is one of my favourite photos of Eva. Her expression is stunning and her eyes caught the lights perfectly. I couldn't have set up studio lighting any better then the natural lights coming in from the restaurant window. Taken last year at City Perks.
I love it when the perfect lighting presents itself along with the perfect subject with the perfect expression. I printed this one and it is, well, way better in print!

Please do click on each photo to see it in larger, clearer format.

 David patiently poses for me while I test my off camera flash.

 Love those glistening eyes.

 This graduate was on his way to play college baseball. I am using off camera lighting along with that huge diffuser in the sky - the cloud covering a bright sun. But the soft light overall gave fabulous detail.  Take a look at the hands and the detail in his jacket by clicking on the photo. Love it!

 I did not pose Eva for this one. Just caught her her in a thoughtful moment by the window..... which is why I love this photo.

Wacom Pen & Assorted Things

My new pen arrived and I have been editing my heart out for the past several days. :)
Pretty space age isn't it? Pressure sensitive on my Wacom tablet.
It works very well....  if you don't pull it apart. :(

But I took today off from photo editing.

Today I got the other stuff done - gym ( oh man am I out of shape), cleaners, picked up some paint - stuff like that. Then off to the grandgirls to run errands with them which included a little "wear your grandma out" shopping. Pushing carts with groceries and little ones thru the parking lots today is a work out in itself.

Eva spotted this hat and wore it most of the time we were shopping... so I bought it for her. It is a perfect sun hat for the warmer days coming soon!

Norah still has her cold which must feel terrible but she still gives me smiles.... and I still have to edit out the snot!

It was a busy day of getting stuff done and marked off the to do list.

I am ready for bed. But first I will share my yellow daffodils - Can Cancer Fundraiser.
They are so cheerful!

Saskatoon Newborn Photography

Meet Griffin!
One handsome dude with two very busy sisters who both want to mother him just a little.
Poor Griffin.
Actually his sisters are beautiful little girls who just love him to pieces.
And love having their photos taken with their new brother.
I went over to Griffins house yesterday afternoon and captured a few moments in this growing families life.

Norah's One Year Check Up

This morning we took Norah to her one year Dr check up with the hopes of capturing some sweet photos similar to the ones I took of Eva on her one year check up.


Not to be....
Not only did Norah wake up with one runny, slimy nose, but she kept smearing it all over her face.
And Norah is a tad more, shall we say, feisty then Eva was at a year.

It all fell apart after this... the curiosity wore off pretty fast and Norah would have nothing to do with this checking her out stuff.

So I put the camera away and we went for lunch.... where Norah gave us a few smiles and then it all fell apart again. Poor girl - just needed to go home and sleep.
This first photo is SOC (Straight out of Camera)
See the snot?
Photographers do not like taking photos of snotty kids because that means serious time in Photoshop.

 The desnotted version

 Below is the 4 seconds where she thought maybe sitting still in her high chair and eating might be okay......
then it fell apart again. :(
I will spare you the screaming kid in a restaurant photos...because I don't have any. Too busy placating the one year old.

But she is still a sweetheart and I love her to pieces, snot and all.
.........
I am off to photograph a newborn in 20 minutes.  They are never snotty :)
Stay tuned.

Beautiful Black & White

Really growing in love with monochromatic photography...

or maybe all this black is just  a pleasant change from the 8 ft snow piles in the front yard that mother nature is adding to as I type!! That is not an exaggeration - EIGHT feet!
 I think I need a martini!

so you know? I used water not Gin. I would never do this to Blue Sapphire. 

EVER!

 Below is a Saskatoon Firefighter in the midst of fighting a fire last summer. It was a very hot day to be wearing all this equipment and heading into a burning house.

I plan to save this and frame it up after her first piano recital. 

I love the concentration. 

here ya go from my iPhone courtesy of Instagram..... those 8 ft piles in front of the house.